When do I transplant my tomato seedlings into the garden?

After all danger of frost is past, it’s planting time. Hurrying doesn’t help, and it can hurt. Even if you plan to offer protection from devices like plastic-wrapped cages (clothespins work well to hold the plastic in place) or walls-o-water or hotcaps, I have never found that really pushing it does much but add to my workload. Time the babies to go out when it’s safe, and not before.
Harden off your transplants over the last week in your indoor care with daily trips outside to enjoy a taste of what’s to come, returning them to a protected place at night.
On transplanting, snip off any flowerbuds that set until the plant is settled in and growing strong, after it reaches perhaps a foot tall or so.

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I garden because I cannot help myself.

—Margaret Roach

Welcome! I’m Margaret Roach, a leading garden writer for 25 years—at ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ ‘Newsday,’ and in three books. I host a public-radio podcast; I also lecture, plus hold tours at my 2.3-acre Hudson Valley (NY) Zone 5B garden, and always say no to chemicals and yes to great plants.